There will soon be some significant signs of new life at the former Medley Centre site in Irondequoit.

On Tuesday, the Irondequoit Planning Board approved a 168-unit senior housing project slated for the former Sears site at the defunct mall, now dubbed Skyview on the Ridge by developers who purchased the site in 2016.

According to town documents, Pathstone Corp. will redevelop the vacant Sears into approximately 72 new apartments and construct an additional five-story building nearby to house an additional 96 apartments. The buildings would be connected via a skyway.

A five-story building as part of a proposed senior housing development on the former Sears site at Medley Centre mall.(Photo: Provided, Passero Associates/Town of Irondequoit)

Amy Casciani, senior vice president for real estate development at PathStone, said the project will be a boon for area seniors.

"This is a perfect site," she said. "The population we are targeting is seniors and frail elderly, and this will connect them with the interior of the mall, which will be available for them to walk inside and to exercise."

Most of the building's units will be one-bedroom, although there will also be some two-bedroom units. There will be covered parking and community space as well as courtyards and garden landscaping.

PathStone is working to get state funding and tax credits for the project. If the agency completes its application for the October round of funding and is approved, construction could begin as early as April, Casciani said. If the application is submitted in December and approved, the earliest construction could begin is next fall.

As for the rest of the mall, Ingrassia is in the midst of planning out his Skyview on the Ridge project, the first phase of a mixed-use mall build-out. That will entail turning as many as 300,000 square feet of space between the former Macy's and J.C. Penney into flex office and warehouse space, upgrading building facades and entrances and adding new landscaping.

Skyview will cost approximately $11.4 million and take between 12 and 18 months to complete.

In January, Conduent Inc. moved operations into the former Macy's building at the mall. That space is owned by developer Flaum Management.